Chapter 17 Hell and High Water
That afternoon, Dr. Levy calls me into the clinical wing to talk to a patient who wants to keep her baby but is in dire need of social services.
I walk her through some basic applications, and Dr. Levy pops back in with a sample pack of prenatal vitamins after we’re finished.
As soon as I step out, I’m asked to sit with a patient who is resting after a procedure to clear out a miscarriage.
“She just needs someone to talk to, and I have other patients. But call me if you need anything,” Dan explains.
He and Nina, our two wonderful nurses, seem particularly harried with our load today, so I’m happy to sit and listen as the patient vents.
She started miscarrying at twelve weeks in Texas and was told it hadn’t progressed enough for the doctors to provide treatment—there was still the barest flicker of electrical signals.
Her friend had a miscarriage last year, went into sepsis, and almost died, so she decided she wanted a D&C right away, got on a plane, and saw us the next day.
She wants a baby and is hoping she can conceive again soon.
She’s strong and resourceful—and, as she acknowledges, lucky to have the money for a last-minute flight.
I mostly offer affirming responses. Eventually Dr. Levy comes in to discharge her, and the woman hugs me before she leaves.
It’s a nice surprise, and I find myself smiling as I turn to Dr. Levy.
“It’s a good thing she came in,” Dr. Levy says. “The stories from there—horrifying.” She looks like she’s going to say more, but her cell phone rings. “I have to take this, but wait a moment, will you?”
I take a couple of steps back as she answers her phone, and my good mood instantly vanishes. “Dr. Levy, how can I—Janey? What’s wrong?”
Janey is her child, eight years old and, from my few interactions with her, as tough as her mom. I retreat farther down the hallway but try to listen in.
“You—you’re safe?… With the teacher? Okay.
Did you see?… No, baby. Have your teacher give it to Dad when he gets there, okay?
I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. It’s going to be okay.
Can I talk to Mrs. Genard?… Thank you for staying a bit later.
She shouldn’t be taking the bus. You must know…
Is there security footage?… I’ll file a police report if that’s what it takes.
It’s disgusting… We get things in the mail, but to threaten my daughter in person?
She didn’t mention a… So it was a message for me?
… Yes, my husband will collect it, and he will want to speak to the principal. Yes, okay. Thank you.”
Dr. Levy’s eyes are heavy, her shoulders slumped as she turns back to me. “In the chaos of the post-soccer pickup, someone shoved a bloodied baby doll into my Janey’s hands. It had the words ‘Your Mother Did This’ written on the front, and apparently there was a note addressed to me on the back.”
I don’t know how to react appropriately. I am so damn mad for her and her daughter I want to punch a wall. Dr. Levy is the heart of this place, so of course the antis will stop at nothing to hurt her.
“I’m so sorry,” I say at last.
“Yes, well. It’s not the first mutilated doll I’ve received, but going after my daughter?
I’m going to find the parent who did that, and I’m going to destroy them.
Once I get the footage—” Her phone rings again, and I notice her hands are shaking as she answers.
“How is she?… She’s a strong kid, but how fucking dare they…
I’ll wait.” She puts herself on mute and turns her phone on speaker.
“My husband is a lawyer. The principal will be showing him the security footage any moment now, I’m sure. ”
“Hello?” her husband says. He has a commanding voice, and I straighten as Dr. Levy unmutes herself.
“Yes?”
“We’re watching now… that’s him!” he exclaims. “Some man shoved—he’s leaving. Wait, rewind.” We both hover around the phone expectantly.
“That’s not a parent,” says another voice. The principal, maybe.
“A man was loitering across the street, walked in behind a group of parents, threatened Janey, and then just left.”
“How did they know what she looked like? Are we being surveilled? How could they allow a random person on school grounds?” Anybody else listening to Dr. Levy would think she was completely in control, but having worked with her, I can tell there’s real panic in her voice.
“Janey’s been in the school paper before,” her husband says. “Any stalker could have—but how could they just walk in?”
“They shouldn’t have been able to.” The principal does sound apologetic, but it’s too little, too late.
“They should have been checked in by the gate monitor. Look. All the other parents show ID. But he just waltzed by, like magic. We will have to review our security protocols. You have my sincere apology. This was unacceptable.”
There’s a crinkling of paper against the phone, and then Dr. Levy’s husband says, “We will be taking this to the police. The note—it’s a threat. ‘Whether you do this the easy way or the hard way, we will prevail, and your den of sin will be destroyed.’ ”
Dr. Levy meets my eyes. I wonder if she sees guilt there. I recognize those words. Asmodeus is making good on his threat. Like magic. He is coming for the clinic, and it’s my fault.
I stick by Dr. Levy’s side as much as possible for the rest of the afternoon, though she pulls herself together fast. I ask her twice if I can do anything to help, but she says her husband has it handled. Though she is rattled, she keeps her appointments.
“They’ve traveled a thousand miles to be here, and I’m going to what, chicken out?”
Still, at the end of the day, she squeezes my shoulder, and I can tell my presence helped.
Little does she know I’m trying to ease my own conscience.
It’s already getting dark when I leave, and I’m not surprised when Aai calls.
She’s been trying to reach me, and though I don’t want to talk to her again, I can’t ignore her call.
“Nisha, a friend of yours is here,” she says. Her voice sounds strained.
“JJ?” I ask. It would be weird for her to show up unannounced, but maybe she’s struggling with the fire and looking for me.
“He says you have a mutual friend… Asmodee? Some odd name.”
My heart stops, followed by a moment of total stillness in my body. My surroundings just… stop. I want to fall on my knees, or tear my hair out. But I’m frozen.
“That’s not a friend.”
In Marathi, Aai says, “I opened the door and he forced his way in. Who is this?”
There’s nothing I can do. I am absolutely powerless. If whoever Asmodeus has sent wants to hurt Aai, he will be able to do so before I can make a single move. I never told Aai about the demons, because I thought she would call me crazy. Because I didn’t want Aai to panic. Because I’m an idiot.
“What does he want?” I ask instead.
“Excellent question,” I hear an unfamiliar voice say in the background. “Ma’am, may I speak to Nisha?”
“Give him the phone,” I tell Aai. Then in Marathi, I add, “Our doctor’s daughter was just attacked. The clinic is getting more dangerous. Once he has the phone, say you’re going to the bathroom and leave the house. Do not be in the same room as him.”
Aai passes the phone, and I hear her murmur about going to the bathroom.
“Hello.”
“So you’re the new puppet?”
“Don’t fear for your mother. I won’t hurt her.”
“What is Asmodeus doing?” I can hardly breathe. The night closes in.
“He’s getting what he wants,” he says. “He’s done waiting.
His benevolent offer of magic for a blessing is off the table.
You will—” He breaks off. “Your mother made a run for it. Smarter than she seems, hmm? It doesn’t matter.
We know how to reach her. It will be nothing for us to end her life, but if you give him your magic, she will live.
You will live. That is the bargain now. Understood? ”
“You threatened an eight-year-old. Why should I trust that you won’t just kill us both after I give you what you want?” I ask, crying.
“Make your decision. Now. Or I’ll track down your mother and—”
“I’ll do it,” I say. “I swear. I just—let me get my affairs in order. I’ll meet you outside my apartment, Wednesday morning.”
“I suppose he can wait until Wednesday… but he will meet you outside your clinic.”
“But—”
“Do you think you can dictate your own terms? He will meet you at your clinic. Make your peace.”
There is only one reason he would want to meet me at the clinic.
Already I can imagine everyone there dead because of me.
But the idea of Aai—I can’t even finish the thought.
I tested his patience. I wanted to be strong, to stand up to the bad guy.
But now, I’ll still have to give this demon my power, and he will make me suffer, for no other reason than his vengefulness.
By the time I make it home, Aai has texted me that she is back in her house, locked in and secure.
My training has paid off, though, because despite my fear and turmoil, I scan my surroundings the way Muya taught me and see a demon at my front door.
I squint, preparing myself to run, and realize it’s Muya himself.
“Thank gods,” I say. “Asmodeus—he threatened my Aai. He threatened my friend’s child. I don’t know what to do.”
Muya’s smile slips. “There goes the mood,” he says, before drawing a key card from his pocket.
It has an address printed on it. “I stole this from the protester when I induced his seizure. I sensed he knew more than the others under Asmodeus’s influence.
It’s for an office space in Edison Park.
I thought you might want to investigate with me. ”
“Right now?”
“You said yourself that your Aai is being threatened. It doesn’t sound like we have much time.”
Five minutes later, I’m on the bus with Muya, both of us silent and contemplative. We only start talking once we’ve disembarked, because Edison Park is quiet after dark.